Romans
2Corinthians 5:16-17 (Amplified) says, "Therefore if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether)."
The Word of God has never failed us and we are indeed new creatures in Christ, however, we haven't been taught how this new creation being is to live. We've performed much like the people of Numbers 13-14, listening to those who taught what they believed, instead of of listening to those who taught what God said. There were ten men sharing the things they saw and encountered in the Land of Canaan and there were two men who repeated what God said about this Promised Land. If you read the response of the people they spoke to, then you will find that the congregation was angry at Moses and Aaron for "lying" to them and making them believe they could take the land.
Thus, Numbers 14:10 (Amplified) saying, "But all the congregation said to stone (Joshua and Caleb) with stones." The people had two choices of who to receive information from about Canaan. One choice would be to listen to the Word of the Lord and the other choice was listening to the word of man's reasonings. The crowd chose to listen to the ten men who said, "We are like grasshoppers in the sight of those living in Canaan," instead of heeding the word of Joshua and Caleb, who had faith in God's Word. They all agreed that the promise of the land of plenty was true and they agreed they were unable to "take the Land."
Today's Church is doing the exact same thing. We find healing scriptures, scriptures about being righteous through Jesus and many other promises in the Word, yet congregations are crying because someone reported, "We are unable to take the Land." And like the Israelites, we find some in the Church who are willing to stone those like Joshua and Caleb who say, "We are well able to take the Land."
The group of ten men didn't deny that what God said about the land was true, but they said they couldn't do it. Joshua and Caleb said that everything God states was true and that, "We are well able to conquer it," in Numbers 13:30. There are two sources of direction in the Church. One source is the Word by the Spirit and the other is the Word by man's reasonings. It might be the same Word, but the source of our believing is altogether different. When we allow the Holy Spirit to direct us, we can have faith to proceed, but when man's reasoning is directing us, we can see only "giants in the Land."
All the spies who entered Canaan, only had God's promise to go on. They had never seen the land or the giants who resided there. Those who had heard the promise, saw the Land and returned with their own opinion of the promise, they stopped all of the congregation with their opinion of God's promise. We witness this same thing happening in today's Church. There are many voices speaking to this Last Days Church. Some are trying to rally the Church and take the land, while some only see the giants.
Even the suggestion of our being a new creation that is able to take the Land through God, can cause some to scream out for "stoning." Our minds have become so conformed to the world's way of thinking, we forget we have a super-natural Father. It was only by faith in God's Word, that allowed Joshua and Caleb to see past the giants and see God's Promised Land.
Both the giants and God's promises are still the same today. Some have their vision blocked by the giants and cannot see past them. We put off the promises of God for another people or another time, while the main part of the people remain in the wilderness. I find that it depended more on what the leadership said about the promises, than what the promise itself said.
Romans 10:17 tells us that, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Let's say it differently: "Faith in God, comes by hearing what God has said." Faith doesn't come from what I think about what God has said.
I'm not sure if I've stated this previously, but it bears repeating anyhow. There was a city in Eastern Europe committed to building a zoo. They had some animals already, but they really desired to have a Giant Kodiac bear in the zoo. While they were waiting for the capture of a Giant Kodiac, they build a beautiful place for him to reside. They built a place for the bear that exactly resembled his natural habitat and knew the bear would call it "home" and be happy.
The bear was captured and delivered to the zoo, but his home wasn't quite complete. Since they didn't have a place for the bear, he was to be left in a cage until his home was finished. So, the caged Giant Kodiak could only walk as far as the cage would allow. He began walking the length of the cage, turned around and repeated the process. He could only walk fifteen paces one way, turn and walk fifteen paces back. The poor bear did this until the pads of his feet were raw and bleeding.
Finally the beautiful home was finished and the bear's cage was placed in the middle of the land with his cage door opened. The zookeepers waited excitedly for the bear to exit his cage and examine his new home, but he only raised his head, looked out, and walked fifteen paces one way and fifteen paces the other way. The zookeepers prodded the bear with a cow prod, to no effect. The bear refused to leave his cage, even though he was surrounded by large meadows, bubbling streams and a great expanses of land. "You're free," the crew encouraged the bear, but he only walked fifteen paces one way and fifteen paces back. The bear did this so long, that he created a groove in the ground that was nearly six inches deep. Sadly, the zookeepers euthenized their beautiful bear, because he wouldn't leave the cage and kept pacing. The cage, though, was only in his mind. He had been set free and the door to his release had been opened, but his mind kept him in bondage.
Many Christians remain in bondage because of our unrenewed minds. We delve into the Word and see the beauty of all that lies ahead of us, but we remain in the mental cage of who we were before being saved. If you've made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, then you are already a new creation. All of the promises God made for His family, are already ours. We try to believe in our hearts to receive the liberty God has placed before us, but in our minds, we remain in captivity.
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Lesson 64 The New Creation
2Corinthians 5:16-17 tells us that we are "a new creation, a new creature altogether," after being born-again. This is what the Holy Spirit revealed to us through the Apostle Paul. Many of us have read this scripture, but have said, "That's for when we get to heaven" and "We'll become a new creature in heaven."
It's been a difficult process for us to realize that we have already become a new creation. We still look the same, speak the same and mostly, we still act the same. We never seem to walk in the super-natural or ever recognize whether or not we're hearing God when He speaks. Many jest and ridicule those who say, "God has told me this or that." That brings forth such comments as, "Oh! God speaks to you, does He?" Yet, we all proclaim that we have been born-again.
We learned earlier how the renewing of the mind is the only way of understand who we really are. We've spent years trying to become what God has already made us to be. No one needs to teach a horse how to be a horse, but someone needs to train him to ride. He was already a horse, but he didn't know how to lead, ride, stop or go. He is still a horse, even though he didn't know these things. We don't need to try to "become a new creation," we just need to learn what this new creation is supposed to do. We have a purpose on this earth and that is to do what our Heavenly Father needs done. We must understand who we are and then learn how to be obedient to what our Master needs and expects from us.
As our mind is renewed by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, we learn to be obedient to His will. Our mind, will and emotions are what makes our decisions in life, we must learn to subject them to the Word. When we try reasoning with the Word, instead of allowing it to become "FIRST PLACE" in our lives, we begin walking in this new creation man that we are.
We've mostly allowed our emotions and reasonings to determine whether or not things in the Word are true. We would argue with anyone who would deny that the Word is true, but we won't allow it to be the final authority. A renewed mind would simply determine the Word as the final authority, because this how we were meant to function in this new creation. It might be that the carnal Christian is the most deceived individual on the planet. A sinner knows he is a sinner and follows his emotions and mind tell him to do. But, a Christian who doesn't know who he really is, is in self denial.
We determined we are forgiven, but continue speaking about ourselves as "being lost." We say we are God's children, but act like we're orphans and God has left us to fend for ourselves. We've allowed the what the world thinks about us to be reality, instead of what the Word says about us.
Instead of feeding the hungry, we've become the hungry. Christians have been led to believe that in order to really love the Lord and be true Christians, we must learn to suffer. We've nearly dismissed what the Lord said and did on Calvary. Jesus bore the Curse of the Law, so that blessing would come upon us, but we deny we're blessed. We read where Jesus bore our sickness and disease, but we confess that, "He put the sickness on us, to teach us something."
The carnal things we've come to believe are the result of a mind that is still carnal and in enmity with God. We've chosen to walk in darkness rather than the Light of the Word of God. We fight and argue over super-natural things, when truthfully, we were created new to walk in the super-natural. Everything about our new being is super-natural by the Word of God. Even God's Word (by which we are born) is super-natural. We've somehow believed the lie of the enemy that we're only made to go to heaven when we die and not much else in our new creation being. We deal with the things of life by natural standards and see praying like it's playing the lottery (there's a 50/50 chance of them being heard or answered).
When you're born-again, you are supposed to read the New Testament from the viewpoint of "We are the redeemed of the Lord" and not someone who is trying to be redeemed. And, although we are saved and a new creation in Christ Jesus, we see ourselves the way we were, instead of what our new birth has made us to be. When your mind is renewed to who you are instead of who you were, you will begin walking in the new creation.
Only the Holy Spirit knows how many miracles and super-natural things the men of God actually performed in their lives. These men had their minds renewed by the Holy Spirit and they knew who they'd become. Only a few miracles are written in the Book of Acts, but that's enough for us to know that these were Spirit led men. Carnal minded men would never dream of doing some of the acts Jesus' followers did.
When your mind is renewed by the Word, you never question what the Holy Spirit leads you to do...you just do it. You never question how to do it or if it will work, this comes from our old carnal minds. The renewed mind knows God's Word is true and the final authority. I cannot imagine Jesus standing before Lazarus' tomb and saying, "I sure hope this works." Jesus simply did what "He heard from the Father."
We actually hear from the Father more than we know, but we question in our old worldly order, and then miss the miracle the Father wanted done. We question whether it's God or is it me or it is satan, because we forget we've become one with God. We miss it many times because we believe the thoughts were our own and not from the Holy Spirit. Fear and pride prevent our doing what God has for us to do. We FEAR it won't work and we're full of PRIDE of appearing foolish to others. We fear what others will think of us if it doesn't work.
This is the old, carnal unrenewed mind at it's best, it's in enmity with God. We must feed on the Word, until we become one with it. Jesus said in Luke 10:8-9,17 (Amplified), "Whenever you go into a town and they receive and accept you and welcome you, eat what is set before you And heal the sick in it and say to them, the Kingdom of God has come close to you." Jesus continues in Verse 17, "They came back with this testimony, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your Name." These men weren't born-again, but were men who allowed the Words Jesus spoke to them, to override the carnal way of thinking. Only days before this encounter, they marveled at how Jesus did things and now with the authority of His Word and Name, they could do these things. In Luke 11:28 (Amplified) we read, "But He said, Blessed (happy and to be envied) rather are those who hear the Word of God and obey and practice it." When you hear God's Word, you must practice it. Renew your mind to the Word and do not be conformed back into the image of the world. Do not return to thinking again, like you did before becoming a new creation.
It's been a difficult process for us to realize that we have already become a new creation. We still look the same, speak the same and mostly, we still act the same. We never seem to walk in the super-natural or ever recognize whether or not we're hearing God when He speaks. Many jest and ridicule those who say, "God has told me this or that." That brings forth such comments as, "Oh! God speaks to you, does He?" Yet, we all proclaim that we have been born-again.
We learned earlier how the renewing of the mind is the only way of understand who we really are. We've spent years trying to become what God has already made us to be. No one needs to teach a horse how to be a horse, but someone needs to train him to ride. He was already a horse, but he didn't know how to lead, ride, stop or go. He is still a horse, even though he didn't know these things. We don't need to try to "become a new creation," we just need to learn what this new creation is supposed to do. We have a purpose on this earth and that is to do what our Heavenly Father needs done. We must understand who we are and then learn how to be obedient to what our Master needs and expects from us.
As our mind is renewed by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, we learn to be obedient to His will. Our mind, will and emotions are what makes our decisions in life, we must learn to subject them to the Word. When we try reasoning with the Word, instead of allowing it to become "FIRST PLACE" in our lives, we begin walking in this new creation man that we are.
We've mostly allowed our emotions and reasonings to determine whether or not things in the Word are true. We would argue with anyone who would deny that the Word is true, but we won't allow it to be the final authority. A renewed mind would simply determine the Word as the final authority, because this how we were meant to function in this new creation. It might be that the carnal Christian is the most deceived individual on the planet. A sinner knows he is a sinner and follows his emotions and mind tell him to do. But, a Christian who doesn't know who he really is, is in self denial.
We determined we are forgiven, but continue speaking about ourselves as "being lost." We say we are God's children, but act like we're orphans and God has left us to fend for ourselves. We've allowed the what the world thinks about us to be reality, instead of what the Word says about us.
Instead of feeding the hungry, we've become the hungry. Christians have been led to believe that in order to really love the Lord and be true Christians, we must learn to suffer. We've nearly dismissed what the Lord said and did on Calvary. Jesus bore the Curse of the Law, so that blessing would come upon us, but we deny we're blessed. We read where Jesus bore our sickness and disease, but we confess that, "He put the sickness on us, to teach us something."
The carnal things we've come to believe are the result of a mind that is still carnal and in enmity with God. We've chosen to walk in darkness rather than the Light of the Word of God. We fight and argue over super-natural things, when truthfully, we were created new to walk in the super-natural. Everything about our new being is super-natural by the Word of God. Even God's Word (by which we are born) is super-natural. We've somehow believed the lie of the enemy that we're only made to go to heaven when we die and not much else in our new creation being. We deal with the things of life by natural standards and see praying like it's playing the lottery (there's a 50/50 chance of them being heard or answered).
When you're born-again, you are supposed to read the New Testament from the viewpoint of "We are the redeemed of the Lord" and not someone who is trying to be redeemed. And, although we are saved and a new creation in Christ Jesus, we see ourselves the way we were, instead of what our new birth has made us to be. When your mind is renewed to who you are instead of who you were, you will begin walking in the new creation.
Only the Holy Spirit knows how many miracles and super-natural things the men of God actually performed in their lives. These men had their minds renewed by the Holy Spirit and they knew who they'd become. Only a few miracles are written in the Book of Acts, but that's enough for us to know that these were Spirit led men. Carnal minded men would never dream of doing some of the acts Jesus' followers did.
When your mind is renewed by the Word, you never question what the Holy Spirit leads you to do...you just do it. You never question how to do it or if it will work, this comes from our old carnal minds. The renewed mind knows God's Word is true and the final authority. I cannot imagine Jesus standing before Lazarus' tomb and saying, "I sure hope this works." Jesus simply did what "He heard from the Father."
We actually hear from the Father more than we know, but we question in our old worldly order, and then miss the miracle the Father wanted done. We question whether it's God or is it me or it is satan, because we forget we've become one with God. We miss it many times because we believe the thoughts were our own and not from the Holy Spirit. Fear and pride prevent our doing what God has for us to do. We FEAR it won't work and we're full of PRIDE of appearing foolish to others. We fear what others will think of us if it doesn't work.
This is the old, carnal unrenewed mind at it's best, it's in enmity with God. We must feed on the Word, until we become one with it. Jesus said in Luke 10:8-9,17 (Amplified), "Whenever you go into a town and they receive and accept you and welcome you, eat what is set before you And heal the sick in it and say to them, the Kingdom of God has come close to you." Jesus continues in Verse 17, "They came back with this testimony, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your Name." These men weren't born-again, but were men who allowed the Words Jesus spoke to them, to override the carnal way of thinking. Only days before this encounter, they marveled at how Jesus did things and now with the authority of His Word and Name, they could do these things. In Luke 11:28 (Amplified) we read, "But He said, Blessed (happy and to be envied) rather are those who hear the Word of God and obey and practice it." When you hear God's Word, you must practice it. Renew your mind to the Word and do not be conformed back into the image of the world. Do not return to thinking again, like you did before becoming a new creation.
Lesson 63 The New Creation
2Corinthians 5:16-17 (Amplified) says, "If any man is ingrafted in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation, a new creature altogether."
Paul wrote about renewing your mind in Romans 12:1-2 (Amplified) saying, "I appeal to you therefore brethren, and beg of you in view of (all) the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies (presenting all your members and faculties) as a living sacrifice,holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), (fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs) but be transformed (changed) by the (entire) renewal of your mind 9by its new ideals and its new attitude), so that you may prove (for yourselves) what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect (in His sight for you)."
There must be a new mind set for the new creation, in order to function in the New Kingdom we've been placed into. Without a renewed mind, we continue to think, act and live like nothing has changed. When Paul spoke about not being "conformed to this world," there was much more to be gleaned from this verse than we've taken from it. Paul didn't say that we were already the way of the world, because we were a new creation. God saw us with "old things passed away, behold, all things are new." To be conformed to anything, one must first be different and then made to conform. When we were born-again, we now have the mind of Christ and we must dedicate our whole body to this new creation, in order to keep this new mindset.
If we don't learn how to think like a new creation, then our minds will return to the same pattern of thinking and our bodies will continue in the way we were before being born-again. The renewing of our minds is a things that every Christian must do to walk in God's will. Once we're born-again, we will either learn to walk in the new creation or we will be once again "conformed" back into the image of the world.
We cannot be conformed into a thing that you already are. You first would have to be something different and then become conformed. We've never seen ourselves the way God sees us. He didn't intend for us to be conformed back into that which God delivered us out of (even the sin consciousness of the old man's mind). We were to continue the new creation, starting with a renewed mind by His Word. We listened to men whose minds weren't renewed and we've allowed our new mind, the mind of Christ, to be programmed with the same image of the age or world.
When man teaches the new creation with the same mindset of the world, we fall back into the same trap satan laid for man over millennium. An unrenewed mind cannot bring about revelation knowledge, only the acquired knowledge of the world. The new creation was again again, subjected to the fall because of the lack of renewal of the mind and failed to walk in its new realm of the Kingdom.
The fallen man's mindset can never carry out the ministry of the new creation man of God. Jesus never allowed the world to influence His thoughts and actions. When the scribes and Pharisees tried entrapping Jesus with their questions, Jesus always answered with the Word. These weren't answers men had expected, but answers they knew were right.
Many new creation people still read a New Word with the old mindset and haven't received the liberty promised by the new birth. The old mind has once again been conformed back to what it once was and finds ways of explaining what God doesn't "do any longer" and why He "doesn't do them." A renewed mind thinks in terms of the new man and the mind of the Spirit. This man knows that, "All things are possible in Christ Jesus." We've mostly not understood what the Holy Spirit was speaking through Paul that he wasn't referring to thinking about nightclubs, drinking, drugging and other such sins. This isn't what He was speaking about at all. It's true that we shouldn't focus on the old life, but that isn't enough.
We haven't continued walking in and being a new creation because we only had the old thoughts to consider. Our mind is part of our soul and not our spirit, so we lacked the revelation of the full process of the new man. In Psalm 23:3 we learned that, "The Lord restores my soul." Your soul is comprised of your mind, will, and emotions. It's the part of man that makes our decisions (right or wrong). Man was made in God's Own Image and God is a Spirit. God formed a body for man to live in. He was given a sould to deal with the natural realm of the flesh, but the sould was to be led by information through his spirit, which is the Image of God.
When man was cut off from God in the Garden of Eden, his soul couldn't receive direction from on high and he was then led into corruption and decay. Since satan became the god of this world, we could only receive "education" from the world and not revelation from God.
When we became a new creation being, our soul was once again capable of receiving wisdom and revelation from God. Psalm 23:3 tells us that, "Our soul was restored," so we could be led by the spirit again. When an unrenewed mind reads the Word of God, it will always interpret it by a natural way of thinking.
And, since we make judgments and decisions through our soulish parts (our minds), we can only be led by what it tells us. This is why Paul, by revelation of the Holy Spirit, wrote about this to the Church at Rome in Romans 8:6-7 (Amplified), "Now the mind of the flesh (which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit) is death (death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter) but the mind of the Holy Spirit is Life and (soul), peace (both now and forever) that is because the mind of hte flesh (with its carnal thoughts and purposes) is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law indeed it cannot."
Before we can make our bodies a living sacrifice unto God, we must allow Jesus to restore our soul (our mind, will, and emotions) or we will simply be a new creation people who living in the worldly sin conscience and condemnation satan heaped upon us before we were saved. Although we are God's children, we still walk in shame and the condemnation of a soul that hasn't been restored. We've been relying on willpower to keep the body in line and even if we are successful at keeping it subjected, we never walk in the new creation being we've become.
People speak about being brain washed by others. We, though, are to be renewed by the washing of water, by the Word. We cleanse the old mind of the flesh (the old man), by renewing our mind (we have the mind of Christ) by its new attitude and way of thinking. Psalm 23 (Amplified) says that, "He leads us in paths of righteousness, for His Own Namesake." As God restores our soul, He reveals righteousness to us. He leads us. He doesn't drive us. He is the Shepherd of our soul.
Paul wrote about renewing your mind in Romans 12:1-2 (Amplified) saying, "I appeal to you therefore brethren, and beg of you in view of (all) the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies (presenting all your members and faculties) as a living sacrifice,holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), (fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs) but be transformed (changed) by the (entire) renewal of your mind 9by its new ideals and its new attitude), so that you may prove (for yourselves) what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect (in His sight for you)."
There must be a new mind set for the new creation, in order to function in the New Kingdom we've been placed into. Without a renewed mind, we continue to think, act and live like nothing has changed. When Paul spoke about not being "conformed to this world," there was much more to be gleaned from this verse than we've taken from it. Paul didn't say that we were already the way of the world, because we were a new creation. God saw us with "old things passed away, behold, all things are new." To be conformed to anything, one must first be different and then made to conform. When we were born-again, we now have the mind of Christ and we must dedicate our whole body to this new creation, in order to keep this new mindset.
If we don't learn how to think like a new creation, then our minds will return to the same pattern of thinking and our bodies will continue in the way we were before being born-again. The renewing of our minds is a things that every Christian must do to walk in God's will. Once we're born-again, we will either learn to walk in the new creation or we will be once again "conformed" back into the image of the world.
We cannot be conformed into a thing that you already are. You first would have to be something different and then become conformed. We've never seen ourselves the way God sees us. He didn't intend for us to be conformed back into that which God delivered us out of (even the sin consciousness of the old man's mind). We were to continue the new creation, starting with a renewed mind by His Word. We listened to men whose minds weren't renewed and we've allowed our new mind, the mind of Christ, to be programmed with the same image of the age or world.
When man teaches the new creation with the same mindset of the world, we fall back into the same trap satan laid for man over millennium. An unrenewed mind cannot bring about revelation knowledge, only the acquired knowledge of the world. The new creation was again again, subjected to the fall because of the lack of renewal of the mind and failed to walk in its new realm of the Kingdom.
The fallen man's mindset can never carry out the ministry of the new creation man of God. Jesus never allowed the world to influence His thoughts and actions. When the scribes and Pharisees tried entrapping Jesus with their questions, Jesus always answered with the Word. These weren't answers men had expected, but answers they knew were right.
Many new creation people still read a New Word with the old mindset and haven't received the liberty promised by the new birth. The old mind has once again been conformed back to what it once was and finds ways of explaining what God doesn't "do any longer" and why He "doesn't do them." A renewed mind thinks in terms of the new man and the mind of the Spirit. This man knows that, "All things are possible in Christ Jesus." We've mostly not understood what the Holy Spirit was speaking through Paul that he wasn't referring to thinking about nightclubs, drinking, drugging and other such sins. This isn't what He was speaking about at all. It's true that we shouldn't focus on the old life, but that isn't enough.
We haven't continued walking in and being a new creation because we only had the old thoughts to consider. Our mind is part of our soul and not our spirit, so we lacked the revelation of the full process of the new man. In Psalm 23:3 we learned that, "The Lord restores my soul." Your soul is comprised of your mind, will, and emotions. It's the part of man that makes our decisions (right or wrong). Man was made in God's Own Image and God is a Spirit. God formed a body for man to live in. He was given a sould to deal with the natural realm of the flesh, but the sould was to be led by information through his spirit, which is the Image of God.
When man was cut off from God in the Garden of Eden, his soul couldn't receive direction from on high and he was then led into corruption and decay. Since satan became the god of this world, we could only receive "education" from the world and not revelation from God.
When we became a new creation being, our soul was once again capable of receiving wisdom and revelation from God. Psalm 23:3 tells us that, "Our soul was restored," so we could be led by the spirit again. When an unrenewed mind reads the Word of God, it will always interpret it by a natural way of thinking.
And, since we make judgments and decisions through our soulish parts (our minds), we can only be led by what it tells us. This is why Paul, by revelation of the Holy Spirit, wrote about this to the Church at Rome in Romans 8:6-7 (Amplified), "Now the mind of the flesh (which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit) is death (death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter) but the mind of the Holy Spirit is Life and (soul), peace (both now and forever) that is because the mind of hte flesh (with its carnal thoughts and purposes) is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law indeed it cannot."
Before we can make our bodies a living sacrifice unto God, we must allow Jesus to restore our soul (our mind, will, and emotions) or we will simply be a new creation people who living in the worldly sin conscience and condemnation satan heaped upon us before we were saved. Although we are God's children, we still walk in shame and the condemnation of a soul that hasn't been restored. We've been relying on willpower to keep the body in line and even if we are successful at keeping it subjected, we never walk in the new creation being we've become.
People speak about being brain washed by others. We, though, are to be renewed by the washing of water, by the Word. We cleanse the old mind of the flesh (the old man), by renewing our mind (we have the mind of Christ) by its new attitude and way of thinking. Psalm 23 (Amplified) says that, "He leads us in paths of righteousness, for His Own Namesake." As God restores our soul, He reveals righteousness to us. He leads us. He doesn't drive us. He is the Shepherd of our soul.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Lesson 62 The New Creation
Our base scripture of 2Corinthians 5:16-17 (Amplified) show entry into the realm of the Kingdom of God and the things of His family. Without our understanding who we are in His family, we will never enter into what Jesus bequeathed us in His will (the New Testament). Until we could become born-again, we had no right to even come into the Presence of God. Because we were born in sin, by the transgression of Adam, we were all spiritually dead men and without a covenant with God.
1Corinthians 13:13 (Amplified) says, "And so faith, hope, love abide (faith-conviction and belief respecting man's relationship to God and Divine things: hope-Joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation: Love-true affection for God and man, growing out of God's Love for and in us), these three: but the greatest of these is Love."
It is essential we understand these three things, in the new creation. On these three,are hinged all the promises of God for His family. Matthew 6:33 (Amplified) says, "But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His Kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right) and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."
God has a way of "doing and being right," and as new creation people, we must understand how these things operate in our lives. We need to know how to "be right with God," because all of our hope and faith hangs on this knowledge. Man's hope was to be righteous or right with God, so that God would hear his prayers. We know that God only hears unrighteous men, when they call out to Him for salvation. Once they're born-again or saved, the now "by faith," have done it in "His way of doing and being right."
"Man's own righteousness is as filthy rags" in God's sight. Man's heart hoped to become righteous, but his way of obtaining it wasn't God's way of being right or righteous. The Word says that, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God," in Hebrews 11:6. So, faith must play an important part of God's way of "doing and being right." Romans 12:3 KJV says, "He has dealt to every man the measure of faith." Now, we must use this "faith" according to His way of being right. Only righteousness by faith, is acceptable to God.
Once you receive Jesus (by faith) as your Lord and Savior, you've become righteous in God's sight. You must believe that it is true, though. This is the hope we have always had, but couldn't obtain. Many have received Jesus as their Lord, but haven't applied their faith to the fact they are now made in right standing with God, because of Jesus. We continue trying to produce righteousness by our actions and our own flesh. This makes hope something distant and wanting for many of God's new creation children.
Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified) says, "Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things (we) hope for; being proof of things (we) do not see and the conviction of their reality (faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses)." Because we are still trying to walk by faith, we stumble over the fact of our being righteous when we make mistakes and sin. Because of our unlearned way of being righteous, we try to depend on our performance to become righteous. This makes our hope unfulfilled and non-existent in our lives.
Remember, the "greatest of these three things is Love" and that Love is to abide in us. The word "abide" means to "remain and make a home here." The three things (faith, hope, love) are always present in this world, by God's grace, according to 1John 4:16-17 (Amplified) which says, "And we know (understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience) and believe (adhere to, and put faith in and rely on) the Love God cherishes for us. God is Love, and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God and God dwells and continues in him. In this (union and communion with Him) Love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us; that we may have confidence for the day of judgment (with assurance and boldness to face Him), because as He is, so are we in this world."
The Word says that, "The greatest of these is Love." Without understanding what Love has done and Who Love is, we still lack hope of ever being in right standing with God and our faith is left wobbling. The Word says that, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for." When we fail to understand Love, then hope for our own right standing (righteousness) in Him is unfulfilled in our way of thinking.
You are righteous in Him, despite your mistakes and childish nature that occasionally arises in all of us. It is only by faith in what Jesus has done to make you righteous, that your hope can be accomplished. When Love is made complete in you, your faith can bring your own heart's desire to fruition. You can know that you are in right standing with your Heavenly Father, in spire of your own imperfections.
We're made to feel conscience of all our own short comings and we are left feeling unrighteous. Righteousness is not a feeling. Only the flesh can feel like it's not righteous by its own deeds and pride. God's way of doing and being right is by faith in His Love that fulfills hope.
This is the way of the new creation, accepting what He has done when He gave us Life through Jesus. Faith is how you approach God and faith is how you remain in union and communion with Him. It's not by our own way of works and feelings, but by His Word.
As babies feeding on the "pure, unadulterated milk" of God's Word, it's important what we hear. Jesus warned in Mark 4:24 (Amplified), "Be careful what you are hearing. The measure (of thought and study) you give (to the truth you hear) will be the measure (of virtue and knowledge) that comes back to you-and more (besides) will be given to you who hear." We've become accustomed to taking any milk placed into our bottles for feeding, but the words being spoke and preached aren't always the "pure milk" that makes us grow into maturity.
God's way of "doing and being right" or righteous, come by faith in Jesus, received by faith, based on His Love for us, the thing we have hoped for. Everything in the Kingdom is based on this same principal of His Word. I might not always feel righteous, but in Christ Jesus, I don't have to walk by what I feel, but by faith in Him. If God is only God when we feel Him, then most of the time, we would be without God in our lives at all.
1Corinthians 13:13 (Amplified) says, "And so faith, hope, love abide (faith-conviction and belief respecting man's relationship to God and Divine things: hope-Joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation: Love-true affection for God and man, growing out of God's Love for and in us), these three: but the greatest of these is Love."
It is essential we understand these three things, in the new creation. On these three,are hinged all the promises of God for His family. Matthew 6:33 (Amplified) says, "But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His Kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right) and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."
God has a way of "doing and being right," and as new creation people, we must understand how these things operate in our lives. We need to know how to "be right with God," because all of our hope and faith hangs on this knowledge. Man's hope was to be righteous or right with God, so that God would hear his prayers. We know that God only hears unrighteous men, when they call out to Him for salvation. Once they're born-again or saved, the now "by faith," have done it in "His way of doing and being right."
"Man's own righteousness is as filthy rags" in God's sight. Man's heart hoped to become righteous, but his way of obtaining it wasn't God's way of being right or righteous. The Word says that, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God," in Hebrews 11:6. So, faith must play an important part of God's way of "doing and being right." Romans 12:3 KJV says, "He has dealt to every man the measure of faith." Now, we must use this "faith" according to His way of being right. Only righteousness by faith, is acceptable to God.
Once you receive Jesus (by faith) as your Lord and Savior, you've become righteous in God's sight. You must believe that it is true, though. This is the hope we have always had, but couldn't obtain. Many have received Jesus as their Lord, but haven't applied their faith to the fact they are now made in right standing with God, because of Jesus. We continue trying to produce righteousness by our actions and our own flesh. This makes hope something distant and wanting for many of God's new creation children.
Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified) says, "Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things (we) hope for; being proof of things (we) do not see and the conviction of their reality (faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses)." Because we are still trying to walk by faith, we stumble over the fact of our being righteous when we make mistakes and sin. Because of our unlearned way of being righteous, we try to depend on our performance to become righteous. This makes our hope unfulfilled and non-existent in our lives.
Remember, the "greatest of these three things is Love" and that Love is to abide in us. The word "abide" means to "remain and make a home here." The three things (faith, hope, love) are always present in this world, by God's grace, according to 1John 4:16-17 (Amplified) which says, "And we know (understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience) and believe (adhere to, and put faith in and rely on) the Love God cherishes for us. God is Love, and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God and God dwells and continues in him. In this (union and communion with Him) Love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us; that we may have confidence for the day of judgment (with assurance and boldness to face Him), because as He is, so are we in this world."
The Word says that, "The greatest of these is Love." Without understanding what Love has done and Who Love is, we still lack hope of ever being in right standing with God and our faith is left wobbling. The Word says that, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for." When we fail to understand Love, then hope for our own right standing (righteousness) in Him is unfulfilled in our way of thinking.
You are righteous in Him, despite your mistakes and childish nature that occasionally arises in all of us. It is only by faith in what Jesus has done to make you righteous, that your hope can be accomplished. When Love is made complete in you, your faith can bring your own heart's desire to fruition. You can know that you are in right standing with your Heavenly Father, in spire of your own imperfections.
We're made to feel conscience of all our own short comings and we are left feeling unrighteous. Righteousness is not a feeling. Only the flesh can feel like it's not righteous by its own deeds and pride. God's way of doing and being right is by faith in His Love that fulfills hope.
This is the way of the new creation, accepting what He has done when He gave us Life through Jesus. Faith is how you approach God and faith is how you remain in union and communion with Him. It's not by our own way of works and feelings, but by His Word.
As babies feeding on the "pure, unadulterated milk" of God's Word, it's important what we hear. Jesus warned in Mark 4:24 (Amplified), "Be careful what you are hearing. The measure (of thought and study) you give (to the truth you hear) will be the measure (of virtue and knowledge) that comes back to you-and more (besides) will be given to you who hear." We've become accustomed to taking any milk placed into our bottles for feeding, but the words being spoke and preached aren't always the "pure milk" that makes us grow into maturity.
God's way of "doing and being right" or righteous, come by faith in Jesus, received by faith, based on His Love for us, the thing we have hoped for. Everything in the Kingdom is based on this same principal of His Word. I might not always feel righteous, but in Christ Jesus, I don't have to walk by what I feel, but by faith in Him. If God is only God when we feel Him, then most of the time, we would be without God in our lives at all.
Monday, June 20, 2016
Lesson 61 The New Creation
We've been gleaning from 2Corinthians 5:16-17 how the believer isn't just a "forgiven sinner," but a new creation altogether. By faith and grace, we were created a new creature in and through Christ Jesus. For many years, God's family has been lied to about who we are and what we have. Once this truth is revealed to the Church, satan's days of having rule over the Father's House are over.
1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) declares that we've been born again, "Not from a mortal seed or sperm, but from the ever living and lasting Word of God." 1Peter 2:2 (Amplified) describes us as being, "Like newborn babies who should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk (the Word of God), that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto (completed) salvation."
Hebrews 6:1-3 (Amplified) tells us, "Therefore Let us go on and get past the elementary stage in the teachings and doctrine of Christ (the Messiah) advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity. Let us not again be laying the foundation of repentance and abandonment of dead works (dead formalism) and of faith (by which you turned to God). With teachings about purifying, the laying on of hands, the resurrection from the dead, and eternal punishment and judgment (these are all matters of which you should have been fully aware of long, long ago. If indeed God permits, we will know (proceed to advanced teaching)."
Paul teaches the Hebrew Church about "going on, and going back to ritual and religion." God's family is called to grow and mature into adult sons and daughters. In God's family, like any family that is growing, there are newborns and older children who are becoming useful to Him. Where we have failed in our part of His new creation family, is that mostly our family is made up of babies. Even though they are new creation people, these babies have never grown "unto (completed) salvation," that 1Peter 2:2 speaks about.
This completed salvation doesn't refer to our going to heaven, but our maturing into who we have already become in Christ. We will always have those who are being born-again into God's family, but we shouldn't have those who have been born-again for thirty or forty years and remain babies. Satan's been good at preventing us from what Peter called "the pure unadulterated spiritual milk" that will cause us to grow "unto (completed) salvation."
When the milk is watered down and is mixed with different things, it might "fill up" the soulish part of the new creation man (the very part that hasn't been renewed), but it fails to nourish his new spirit. The new spirit must be fed on the Word of God and not the religion of man. Jesus said in John 4:24 (Amplified), "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality)." Jesus also said in John 6:63 (Amplified) that, "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life Giver) the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it) the Words (Truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."
"The flesh has no profit (no nourishment to your spirit) whatever." This is the watered down milk we've been taught for years. It might keep our spirit (our new creation) alive, with just a little bit of life in it, but it doesn't have enough nourishment to allow it to grow into "completed salvation." We've been nearly starved in our spirit man, by not being fed the Word of Life. Because we've been made a new creation in God's Own Image, we can never die, but we're so weak in our spirit and have no power to grow into what we were born to be.
We will be given equal place in the family and Kingdom when we enter into God's Presence, but we're too weak and feeble here to do what God needs done on earth. The church building was to be a school house where God's new babies are fed and grow. It was never to be a spiritual nursery where the babies remain forever.
Many of us attended school because it was the law of the Land. We did only what was required of us, and nothing more. Others graduate to higher education in order to learn a craft or future employment. Some, not many, will learn and become useful for the benefit of all mankind. These reflect the Body of Christ, today. We only learn what we think is required of us to "remain saved," and have no interest in becoming beneficial beyond that.
The old saying of, "We're only human," has long been a stand-by for the lack of growth in the Church. We're not only human, but are now and forever a new creation. Like most babies, we tend to spit out what we don't like and only accept what we do like. When something upsets the nursery, we cry a lot and throw little fits of displeasure, until we get our own way. Rather than upsetting the entire nursery, we've allowed temper tantrums to prevent the babies being fed anything except sugar, watered down milk and not the "pure, unadulterated milk of the Word."
Your spirit can and will grow only on God's Word and not on the soulish things of the flesh. It might minister to your senses, but it doesn't nourish your new creation spirit man at all. We're constantly made aware of our weaknesses of our fleshly house, but we're never fed anything that will overcome these weaknesses. We hear sermons about how we shouldn't drink and how "All things work together for our good," but these only affect our natural senses and not our spirit.
You've not been a natural being since you were saved. At that moment, you became a super-natural spirit, a new creation made in God's Own Image and Likeness. 2Corinthians 5:16 (Amplified) says, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a (purely) human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value). (No) even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a Man, yet now (we have such knowledge of Him that) we know Him no longer (in terms of the flesh)."
We continually minister to the senses and flesh and make excuses for not growing up in the spirit. We've all but forgotten the super-natural things of God, in many of our churches. We've spoken out against such things in some instances, so how can we feed and nourish the babies into completed salvation, if we hold back the only thing that can given them life and growth?
When we find somethings in God's Word that we find "controversial," we simply avoid it altogether, rather than feed it in the diet of the Word. Even the Scribes did this with Jesus, any time He said or did something that challenged their teachings, they declared Him to be wrong. They wanted nothing that would bring changes in their way of doing things. They even said Jesus was a "devil," when He performed a miracle.
The more people we have coming into the churches, the less we have to say without upsetting the rest of them. Some will always be "offended" at what we preach, but we are still required to preach it, according to Jesus in Mark 16:15-20 (Amplified), "And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach and publish openly the Good News (the Gospel) to every creature (of the whole human race). He who believes (who adheres to, and trusts in and relies on the Gospel and Him Who it sets forth) and is baptized will be saved (from the penalty of eternal death); but he who does not believe (does not adhere to and trust in and rely on the Gospel and Him Whom it sets forth) will be condemned." Verses 17-20 go on, "And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe; In My Name they will drive out demons, they will speak in new languages, They will pick up serpents, and (even) if they drink anything deadly; it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well, So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into Heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the Message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied it. (Amen) So be it."
Could the reason we don't see the "attesting signs and miracles" anymore, is because we do not preach them like Jesus' followers did? We don't want to preach a Word that is controversial in our churches. Don't we know that God's Word is controversial, anywhere it's preached? Those who believe and those who do not believe will find controversy in whatever we preach, at some point. So, why not just preach the Word (the pure milk) unto our babies, instead of a watered down version of the Gospel? It is the only way they can grow up in the spirit.
1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) declares that we've been born again, "Not from a mortal seed or sperm, but from the ever living and lasting Word of God." 1Peter 2:2 (Amplified) describes us as being, "Like newborn babies who should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk (the Word of God), that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto (completed) salvation."
Hebrews 6:1-3 (Amplified) tells us, "Therefore Let us go on and get past the elementary stage in the teachings and doctrine of Christ (the Messiah) advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity. Let us not again be laying the foundation of repentance and abandonment of dead works (dead formalism) and of faith (by which you turned to God). With teachings about purifying, the laying on of hands, the resurrection from the dead, and eternal punishment and judgment (these are all matters of which you should have been fully aware of long, long ago. If indeed God permits, we will know (proceed to advanced teaching)."
Paul teaches the Hebrew Church about "going on, and going back to ritual and religion." God's family is called to grow and mature into adult sons and daughters. In God's family, like any family that is growing, there are newborns and older children who are becoming useful to Him. Where we have failed in our part of His new creation family, is that mostly our family is made up of babies. Even though they are new creation people, these babies have never grown "unto (completed) salvation," that 1Peter 2:2 speaks about.
This completed salvation doesn't refer to our going to heaven, but our maturing into who we have already become in Christ. We will always have those who are being born-again into God's family, but we shouldn't have those who have been born-again for thirty or forty years and remain babies. Satan's been good at preventing us from what Peter called "the pure unadulterated spiritual milk" that will cause us to grow "unto (completed) salvation."
When the milk is watered down and is mixed with different things, it might "fill up" the soulish part of the new creation man (the very part that hasn't been renewed), but it fails to nourish his new spirit. The new spirit must be fed on the Word of God and not the religion of man. Jesus said in John 4:24 (Amplified), "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality)." Jesus also said in John 6:63 (Amplified) that, "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life Giver) the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it) the Words (Truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."
"The flesh has no profit (no nourishment to your spirit) whatever." This is the watered down milk we've been taught for years. It might keep our spirit (our new creation) alive, with just a little bit of life in it, but it doesn't have enough nourishment to allow it to grow into "completed salvation." We've been nearly starved in our spirit man, by not being fed the Word of Life. Because we've been made a new creation in God's Own Image, we can never die, but we're so weak in our spirit and have no power to grow into what we were born to be.
We will be given equal place in the family and Kingdom when we enter into God's Presence, but we're too weak and feeble here to do what God needs done on earth. The church building was to be a school house where God's new babies are fed and grow. It was never to be a spiritual nursery where the babies remain forever.
Many of us attended school because it was the law of the Land. We did only what was required of us, and nothing more. Others graduate to higher education in order to learn a craft or future employment. Some, not many, will learn and become useful for the benefit of all mankind. These reflect the Body of Christ, today. We only learn what we think is required of us to "remain saved," and have no interest in becoming beneficial beyond that.
The old saying of, "We're only human," has long been a stand-by for the lack of growth in the Church. We're not only human, but are now and forever a new creation. Like most babies, we tend to spit out what we don't like and only accept what we do like. When something upsets the nursery, we cry a lot and throw little fits of displeasure, until we get our own way. Rather than upsetting the entire nursery, we've allowed temper tantrums to prevent the babies being fed anything except sugar, watered down milk and not the "pure, unadulterated milk of the Word."
Your spirit can and will grow only on God's Word and not on the soulish things of the flesh. It might minister to your senses, but it doesn't nourish your new creation spirit man at all. We're constantly made aware of our weaknesses of our fleshly house, but we're never fed anything that will overcome these weaknesses. We hear sermons about how we shouldn't drink and how "All things work together for our good," but these only affect our natural senses and not our spirit.
You've not been a natural being since you were saved. At that moment, you became a super-natural spirit, a new creation made in God's Own Image and Likeness. 2Corinthians 5:16 (Amplified) says, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a (purely) human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value). (No) even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a Man, yet now (we have such knowledge of Him that) we know Him no longer (in terms of the flesh)."
We continually minister to the senses and flesh and make excuses for not growing up in the spirit. We've all but forgotten the super-natural things of God, in many of our churches. We've spoken out against such things in some instances, so how can we feed and nourish the babies into completed salvation, if we hold back the only thing that can given them life and growth?
When we find somethings in God's Word that we find "controversial," we simply avoid it altogether, rather than feed it in the diet of the Word. Even the Scribes did this with Jesus, any time He said or did something that challenged their teachings, they declared Him to be wrong. They wanted nothing that would bring changes in their way of doing things. They even said Jesus was a "devil," when He performed a miracle.
The more people we have coming into the churches, the less we have to say without upsetting the rest of them. Some will always be "offended" at what we preach, but we are still required to preach it, according to Jesus in Mark 16:15-20 (Amplified), "And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach and publish openly the Good News (the Gospel) to every creature (of the whole human race). He who believes (who adheres to, and trusts in and relies on the Gospel and Him Who it sets forth) and is baptized will be saved (from the penalty of eternal death); but he who does not believe (does not adhere to and trust in and rely on the Gospel and Him Whom it sets forth) will be condemned." Verses 17-20 go on, "And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe; In My Name they will drive out demons, they will speak in new languages, They will pick up serpents, and (even) if they drink anything deadly; it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well, So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into Heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the Message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied it. (Amen) So be it."
Could the reason we don't see the "attesting signs and miracles" anymore, is because we do not preach them like Jesus' followers did? We don't want to preach a Word that is controversial in our churches. Don't we know that God's Word is controversial, anywhere it's preached? Those who believe and those who do not believe will find controversy in whatever we preach, at some point. So, why not just preach the Word (the pure milk) unto our babies, instead of a watered down version of the Gospel? It is the only way they can grow up in the spirit.
Friday, June 10, 2016
Lesson 60 The New Creation
2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) says, "Therefore if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ(the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creation altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."
The above verse describes who we have now (already) become, by our new birth in Christ Jesus. This isn't a future event, but one that has already been done. Our mortal body will still die and pass away until the final resurrection, but our inward man (the new creation) is already like our Heavenly Father. We've been born into the realm of the super-natural and into the very Kingdom of God.
We've been taught and always heard that this was something yet to come, but God's Word tells us differently. Because we've been taught this way, it is difficult for us to see ourselves differently. Part of the renewing of our minds and pulling down strongholds, is allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal to us, who we are now. Romans 12:2 (Amplified) says, "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), (fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs), but be transformed (changed) by the (entire) renewal of your mind (by its new ideals and attitude) so that you may prove (for yourselves) what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the things which is good and acceptable and perfect (in His sight for you)."
We've already been born into the super-natural spirit realm, and are to operate in the Spirit Kingdom of God. We were created to walk like Jesus walked. He walked as a Man Who was filled with the very life and presence of God within us. Even Jesus declared, "It is not Me, but the Father in Me, that does the work." He says in John 14:10 (Amplified) that, "Do you not believe that I Am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? What I Am telling you I do not say of My Own authority and of My Own accord; but the Father Who lives continually in Me does the (His) works (His Own miracles, deeds of power)."
Jesus said that it was, "The Father Himself Who gave the authority to Jesus, for Him to say these very things to and for us and that it is the Father in Jesus Who is doing the miracles and works. this is the very Father Who now lives in us to say and do His works now, through us, like He did through Jesus.
Jesus also said in John 14:12 (Amplified), "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father."
Jesus never would have said these things, if they were not true. He said in John 14:10 that, "What I Am telling you I do not say of My Own accord." So, it must be the Father in Jesus, Who spoke that verse for us, through Jesus. God intended for His children to continue revealing His Presence to all the world, would live in all those who became a new creation in Him, through the new birth.
We were born to walk in the super-natural presence and power of the Holy Spirit Who now resides in and through His new creation. We fin that Jesus always sent His disciples and His company into the world, in order to reveal His Father in super-natural ability. Jesus said in Luke 10:8-9,17 (Amplified), "Whenever you go into a town and they receive and welcome you; eat what is set before you; and heal the sick in it and say to them, The Kingdom of God has come close to you." He went on in Verse 17, telling the men returning with their testimonies, "The seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your Name. And He said to them, I saw satan falling like a lightning (flash) from heaven. Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and (physical and mental strength and ability) over all the power that the enemy (possesses); and nothing shall in any way harm you."
I want you to read what Jesus said in Verse 21 (from the Amplified Bible), "In that same house He (Jesus) rejoiced and gloried in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have concealed these things (relating to salvation) from the wise and understanding and learned, and revealed them to babes (the childish, unskilled, and untaught). Yes, Father, for such was Your gracious will and choice and good pleasure."
Jesus declared that, "Healing, deliverance and authority was all a part of salvation," not only for those who were healed and delivered, but for those who took this Word and power to them. We have been taught that salvation simply meant that we were forgiven, but Jesus referred to it in a much greater way. These weren't born-again people (because Jesus hadn't died and rose again yet), but they were simply people who dared to believe Him.
These were old covenant people that Jesus sent out, they weren't yet born-again. We, however, are born-again and have become a new creation who was created new by the power of His resurrection and acceptance by the Father, on our behalf. This Word of power and authority, that Jesus gave them, has now become ours too, plus much more. We not only have His Name and His Word, but we have His very nature and Spirit. We are a new creation.
Satan has been successful at hiding the truth of the new creation from the Church. We've been taught that it's prideful and boastful to believe this truth. Jesus, though, is the One Who told us to go and do the very things we've been told only He could do. He is the One Who instructed the first new creation, after His resurrection, how to function on this earth. In Mark 16:15-20 (Amplified) Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach and publish openly the good news (the Gospel) to every creature (of the whole human race). He who believes (who adheres to and trusts in and relies on the Gospel and Him Whom it sets forth) and is baptized will be saved (from the penalty of eternal death) but he who does not believe (who does not adhere to and trust in, and rely on the Gospel and Him Whom it sets forth) will be condemned. And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe; In My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak with languages; they will pick up serpents, and (even) if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well." Verses 19-20 continue, "So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God. And they went our and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied (it). Amen (So be it)."
We've been told often that these signs were only for the apostles and the early Church and only for a certain period of time. We've been assured that now the Church has been established, not everyone can do these things and these things have passed away. Jesus, though, said, "That these signs were to follow those who would believe."
We, as new creation people, already have this miracle ability placed within our new born-again spirits. They very Father Who was in Jesus, has also become our Father. The same Holy Spirit Who flowed through Jesus, now flows in and through us, to the point that we believe. Jesus said in Luke 10:21 (Amplified) that "These signs and wonders were things relating to salvation" and they were "Concealed from those who thought themselves to be wise, and revealed to the child like, unskilled, and untaught." Jesus also spoke about the spies who entered into the Promised Land and returned with evil reports from the so-called leaders. Numbers 13:32 (Amplified) says, "So they brought the Israelites an evil report of the land which they had scouted out, saying we were like ants in their eyes." In Mark 16 Jesus commented on how the spies saw the Promised Land and informed the people that (for one reason or another) we still cannot enter in." Jesus said that we would have signs following those who would believe and enter into God's rest.
Joshua and Caleb believed and after forty years, they finally entered into the Promised Land. You might be someone who believes Mark 16 and the new creation and you might have waited forty years to "take the Land," but now is the time God is raising up His new creation family to reveal Himself strong to the world. We must, "Be not afraid of anything," but remember, it's not you, but the Father in You Who will do the works. We must believe like Joshua and Caleb did, that God is still able to do what He said He would and that giants make no difference to our God.
We've also been taught that we were never good enough for God to use in such a mighty way. In light of who we were, this is true, but in light of the new creation this isn't so. 2Corinthians 5:16-7(Amplified) says, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a (purely) human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value) (No) even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a Man, Yet now (we have such knowledge of Him that) we know Him no longer (in terms of the flesh)."
We know Jesus as the Head of the Church, as the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, as the Name above all Names, and as our right standing with the Father. Jesus is The Greater One Who lives within us. He is The Great High Priest of the new covenant with our Heavenly Father.
Jesus is the One Who will do God's works through the new creation people who believe we are what God says we are and not who we once were. God doesn't see us "after the flesh, but after the Spirit." God made our spirit so clean and new in this creation, that He can actually live in us and walk in us as the Temple of God. 1Corinthians 6:19-20 (Amplified) says, "Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received (as a Gift) from God? You are now your own." Verse 20 goes on, "You were bought with a price (purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His Own) So then honor God and bring glory to Him in your body."
The above verse describes who we have now (already) become, by our new birth in Christ Jesus. This isn't a future event, but one that has already been done. Our mortal body will still die and pass away until the final resurrection, but our inward man (the new creation) is already like our Heavenly Father. We've been born into the realm of the super-natural and into the very Kingdom of God.
We've been taught and always heard that this was something yet to come, but God's Word tells us differently. Because we've been taught this way, it is difficult for us to see ourselves differently. Part of the renewing of our minds and pulling down strongholds, is allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal to us, who we are now. Romans 12:2 (Amplified) says, "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), (fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs), but be transformed (changed) by the (entire) renewal of your mind (by its new ideals and attitude) so that you may prove (for yourselves) what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the things which is good and acceptable and perfect (in His sight for you)."
We've already been born into the super-natural spirit realm, and are to operate in the Spirit Kingdom of God. We were created to walk like Jesus walked. He walked as a Man Who was filled with the very life and presence of God within us. Even Jesus declared, "It is not Me, but the Father in Me, that does the work." He says in John 14:10 (Amplified) that, "Do you not believe that I Am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? What I Am telling you I do not say of My Own authority and of My Own accord; but the Father Who lives continually in Me does the (His) works (His Own miracles, deeds of power)."
Jesus said that it was, "The Father Himself Who gave the authority to Jesus, for Him to say these very things to and for us and that it is the Father in Jesus Who is doing the miracles and works. this is the very Father Who now lives in us to say and do His works now, through us, like He did through Jesus.
Jesus also said in John 14:12 (Amplified), "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father."
Jesus never would have said these things, if they were not true. He said in John 14:10 that, "What I Am telling you I do not say of My Own accord." So, it must be the Father in Jesus, Who spoke that verse for us, through Jesus. God intended for His children to continue revealing His Presence to all the world, would live in all those who became a new creation in Him, through the new birth.
We were born to walk in the super-natural presence and power of the Holy Spirit Who now resides in and through His new creation. We fin that Jesus always sent His disciples and His company into the world, in order to reveal His Father in super-natural ability. Jesus said in Luke 10:8-9,17 (Amplified), "Whenever you go into a town and they receive and welcome you; eat what is set before you; and heal the sick in it and say to them, The Kingdom of God has come close to you." He went on in Verse 17, telling the men returning with their testimonies, "The seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your Name. And He said to them, I saw satan falling like a lightning (flash) from heaven. Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and (physical and mental strength and ability) over all the power that the enemy (possesses); and nothing shall in any way harm you."
I want you to read what Jesus said in Verse 21 (from the Amplified Bible), "In that same house He (Jesus) rejoiced and gloried in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have concealed these things (relating to salvation) from the wise and understanding and learned, and revealed them to babes (the childish, unskilled, and untaught). Yes, Father, for such was Your gracious will and choice and good pleasure."
Jesus declared that, "Healing, deliverance and authority was all a part of salvation," not only for those who were healed and delivered, but for those who took this Word and power to them. We have been taught that salvation simply meant that we were forgiven, but Jesus referred to it in a much greater way. These weren't born-again people (because Jesus hadn't died and rose again yet), but they were simply people who dared to believe Him.
These were old covenant people that Jesus sent out, they weren't yet born-again. We, however, are born-again and have become a new creation who was created new by the power of His resurrection and acceptance by the Father, on our behalf. This Word of power and authority, that Jesus gave them, has now become ours too, plus much more. We not only have His Name and His Word, but we have His very nature and Spirit. We are a new creation.
Satan has been successful at hiding the truth of the new creation from the Church. We've been taught that it's prideful and boastful to believe this truth. Jesus, though, is the One Who told us to go and do the very things we've been told only He could do. He is the One Who instructed the first new creation, after His resurrection, how to function on this earth. In Mark 16:15-20 (Amplified) Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach and publish openly the good news (the Gospel) to every creature (of the whole human race). He who believes (who adheres to and trusts in and relies on the Gospel and Him Whom it sets forth) and is baptized will be saved (from the penalty of eternal death) but he who does not believe (who does not adhere to and trust in, and rely on the Gospel and Him Whom it sets forth) will be condemned. And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe; In My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak with languages; they will pick up serpents, and (even) if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well." Verses 19-20 continue, "So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God. And they went our and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied (it). Amen (So be it)."
We've been told often that these signs were only for the apostles and the early Church and only for a certain period of time. We've been assured that now the Church has been established, not everyone can do these things and these things have passed away. Jesus, though, said, "That these signs were to follow those who would believe."
We, as new creation people, already have this miracle ability placed within our new born-again spirits. They very Father Who was in Jesus, has also become our Father. The same Holy Spirit Who flowed through Jesus, now flows in and through us, to the point that we believe. Jesus said in Luke 10:21 (Amplified) that "These signs and wonders were things relating to salvation" and they were "Concealed from those who thought themselves to be wise, and revealed to the child like, unskilled, and untaught." Jesus also spoke about the spies who entered into the Promised Land and returned with evil reports from the so-called leaders. Numbers 13:32 (Amplified) says, "So they brought the Israelites an evil report of the land which they had scouted out, saying we were like ants in their eyes." In Mark 16 Jesus commented on how the spies saw the Promised Land and informed the people that (for one reason or another) we still cannot enter in." Jesus said that we would have signs following those who would believe and enter into God's rest.
Joshua and Caleb believed and after forty years, they finally entered into the Promised Land. You might be someone who believes Mark 16 and the new creation and you might have waited forty years to "take the Land," but now is the time God is raising up His new creation family to reveal Himself strong to the world. We must, "Be not afraid of anything," but remember, it's not you, but the Father in You Who will do the works. We must believe like Joshua and Caleb did, that God is still able to do what He said He would and that giants make no difference to our God.
We've also been taught that we were never good enough for God to use in such a mighty way. In light of who we were, this is true, but in light of the new creation this isn't so. 2Corinthians 5:16-7(Amplified) says, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a (purely) human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value) (No) even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a Man, Yet now (we have such knowledge of Him that) we know Him no longer (in terms of the flesh)."
We know Jesus as the Head of the Church, as the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, as the Name above all Names, and as our right standing with the Father. Jesus is The Greater One Who lives within us. He is The Great High Priest of the new covenant with our Heavenly Father.
Jesus is the One Who will do God's works through the new creation people who believe we are what God says we are and not who we once were. God doesn't see us "after the flesh, but after the Spirit." God made our spirit so clean and new in this creation, that He can actually live in us and walk in us as the Temple of God. 1Corinthians 6:19-20 (Amplified) says, "Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received (as a Gift) from God? You are now your own." Verse 20 goes on, "You were bought with a price (purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His Own) So then honor God and bring glory to Him in your body."
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Lesson 59 The New Creation
In 2Corinthians 5:16-17, the Apostle Paul relates what Jesus spoke to him, regarding the Christian of the new covenant. Paul also spoke about the revelation in Galatians 1:11-12 (Amplified) saying, "For I want you to know brethren, that the gospel which was proclaimed and made know by me is not a man's gospel ( a human invention, according to or patterned after any human standard). For indeed I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, (but it came to me) through a (direct) revelation (given) by Jesus Christ (the Messiah)."
If anyone would know about the truth of this new creation man in the new covenant, then it would the The One Who died to establish it into being. We have a difficult time understanding the new creation, because we look at it from a "purely human point of view." Jesus, however, sees it from the same perspective of the Father Who sent Him. This wasn't about starting a new religion, but bringing God's children back into His Presence.
The new creation that we speak of, isn't simply about the forgiveness of sin, but about abolishing sin and restoring our right standing back with the Father. Of course, sin had to be dealt with in order to do so, but God no longer covers sin, He destroyed it in His new creation. When we speak of a new creation, we speak in terms of the first creation, where God established man in His Own Image and Likeness. Man was in perfect fellowship and pure before God. Sin didn't exist in God's first creation and fellowship was so intimate that God and Adam walked together and spoke as a son with his Father.
This new creation is exactly like that. God said, "Let Us make man in Our Image and Likeness, Let them (man) have dominion over all things in the earth." In the new creation, God had done a new thing, through Jesus Christ. We were born again (we have no past in God's eyes), by God's Own Word. 1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) says, "You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm) but from One that is Immortal by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."
God spoke light into being and it now remains by His Word. Only when God spoke this new creation, did this new creation become and it now remains by His Word. When God spoke the new creation into existence, it remains by His Word, just as surely as the heavens abide now by His Word. Even thought some do not believe in His creation, it still remains. Having some who do not believe in the reality of His new creation, doesn't mean that it's truth and reality. For those who believe, it is a liberty from sin and satan, while those who will not believe, it remains true without having effect in their lives.
The things the Father has declared, must be received by faith in His Word. Grace has provided much more than faith has received. Our right standing with the Father is a great part of this new creation, but we must accept this also by faith in His new creation reality. We've struggled over such things as healing, peace, righteousness, fellowship, prayer, authority, and the delegated power through the indwelling Holy Spirit, in God's new creation family. Just because some do not believe it, doesn't make it any less truth.
Unless we renew our minds to the truth of this new creation, we continue walking in the shadow of the old man of sin. When we read the New Testament, we continue reading it with the old sin conscience of the old man, more than reading with the Spirit of God's new man. We still try adjusting our spiritual life more in line with the old covenant, rather than the new one. We identify more with our flesh, rather than with our new creation man of God.
Paul writes the Church in Rome saying in Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified), "Therefore, (there is) no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live (and) walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit." When reading this scripture, do you allow the flesh to dictate your old man's sin to bring you under condemnation? Or, do you allow the Spirit to dictate to you the liberty from condemnation? This is a choice that is made by faith in what God has done in this new creation. Your flesh, which satan had control over from your old, natural birth, will fall in line with your unrenewed mind, but the renewed mind (the mind of the Spirit) will always agree with God's Word of Truth. The next verse explains why there should be "no condemnation" to those who will allow the Spirit to dictate what we believe. Thus, Verse 2 says, "For the Law of the Spirit of Life (which is) in Christ Jesus (the Law of our New Being) has freed me from the Law of sin and of death." Which of these Laws do you believe in by faith? What you believe,is how you will conduct your spiritual life on earth. It is true whether or not you believe it, but it will not be effective in your peace of mind or your fellowship with the Father, if we refuse to believe it in your life.
Many believe this sounds prideful and boastful to believe that you are righteous in God's eyes. God, though, hears it as faith in His Word and less what the world or the devil has to say about us. If God declares you righteous, then are we to declare that He lied?
As new creation people, we must now walk by faith in God's Word. The world's point of view doesn't enter into this covenant. Only by faith in His Word can we dare to believe we have access to God's Throne of grace at anytime we choose to enter in. We can now be received into His Very Presence without guilt or condemnation through Jesus' Sacrifice.
Satan would still try holding onto the hold he had of the new creation, but he can only do so through deception. Satan's very first deception over God's first creation came from the beginning in Genesis 3:4-5 (Amplified) which says, "But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die, For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity."
Adam and Eve were "already like God, according to Genesis 1:27 (Amplified) which says, "So God created man in His Own Image, in the Image and Likeness of God He created him, male and female He created them." God has now made a new creation into His Image and Likeness, with this new birth. The first thing satan tried with this new creation family, was telling us that we are not in "God's Image and Likeness." Satan would have us believing that it's prideful to believe or confess such a thing. God says to believe this, is faith in His Word and His Son.
We've been faced with a decision of what we choose to believe. We can "walk after the dictates of the flesh" or we can choose to walk in the dictates of the Spirit with liberty in Christ Jesus. God has given His people the power of choice. God says in Deuteronomy 30:14&19 (Amplified), "See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil." Verse 19 goes on, "I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curses; Therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live."
We've been given the same mandate in our lives. Those who believe and are born-again will be saved, while those who do not believe, will be lost. Those who choose to be led by the dictates of the flesh, will continue living in guilt and condemnation. Those who walk in the dictates of the Spirit, will walk in liberty and life. The choice is left up to us. We can choose to believe in God's new creation and walk in dominion over sin and death or we can choose to believe what the deceiver said to Eve and then not enter into God's Presence.
If anyone would know about the truth of this new creation man in the new covenant, then it would the The One Who died to establish it into being. We have a difficult time understanding the new creation, because we look at it from a "purely human point of view." Jesus, however, sees it from the same perspective of the Father Who sent Him. This wasn't about starting a new religion, but bringing God's children back into His Presence.
The new creation that we speak of, isn't simply about the forgiveness of sin, but about abolishing sin and restoring our right standing back with the Father. Of course, sin had to be dealt with in order to do so, but God no longer covers sin, He destroyed it in His new creation. When we speak of a new creation, we speak in terms of the first creation, where God established man in His Own Image and Likeness. Man was in perfect fellowship and pure before God. Sin didn't exist in God's first creation and fellowship was so intimate that God and Adam walked together and spoke as a son with his Father.
This new creation is exactly like that. God said, "Let Us make man in Our Image and Likeness, Let them (man) have dominion over all things in the earth." In the new creation, God had done a new thing, through Jesus Christ. We were born again (we have no past in God's eyes), by God's Own Word. 1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) says, "You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm) but from One that is Immortal by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."
God spoke light into being and it now remains by His Word. Only when God spoke this new creation, did this new creation become and it now remains by His Word. When God spoke the new creation into existence, it remains by His Word, just as surely as the heavens abide now by His Word. Even thought some do not believe in His creation, it still remains. Having some who do not believe in the reality of His new creation, doesn't mean that it's truth and reality. For those who believe, it is a liberty from sin and satan, while those who will not believe, it remains true without having effect in their lives.
The things the Father has declared, must be received by faith in His Word. Grace has provided much more than faith has received. Our right standing with the Father is a great part of this new creation, but we must accept this also by faith in His new creation reality. We've struggled over such things as healing, peace, righteousness, fellowship, prayer, authority, and the delegated power through the indwelling Holy Spirit, in God's new creation family. Just because some do not believe it, doesn't make it any less truth.
Unless we renew our minds to the truth of this new creation, we continue walking in the shadow of the old man of sin. When we read the New Testament, we continue reading it with the old sin conscience of the old man, more than reading with the Spirit of God's new man. We still try adjusting our spiritual life more in line with the old covenant, rather than the new one. We identify more with our flesh, rather than with our new creation man of God.
Paul writes the Church in Rome saying in Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified), "Therefore, (there is) no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live (and) walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit." When reading this scripture, do you allow the flesh to dictate your old man's sin to bring you under condemnation? Or, do you allow the Spirit to dictate to you the liberty from condemnation? This is a choice that is made by faith in what God has done in this new creation. Your flesh, which satan had control over from your old, natural birth, will fall in line with your unrenewed mind, but the renewed mind (the mind of the Spirit) will always agree with God's Word of Truth. The next verse explains why there should be "no condemnation" to those who will allow the Spirit to dictate what we believe. Thus, Verse 2 says, "For the Law of the Spirit of Life (which is) in Christ Jesus (the Law of our New Being) has freed me from the Law of sin and of death." Which of these Laws do you believe in by faith? What you believe,is how you will conduct your spiritual life on earth. It is true whether or not you believe it, but it will not be effective in your peace of mind or your fellowship with the Father, if we refuse to believe it in your life.
Many believe this sounds prideful and boastful to believe that you are righteous in God's eyes. God, though, hears it as faith in His Word and less what the world or the devil has to say about us. If God declares you righteous, then are we to declare that He lied?
As new creation people, we must now walk by faith in God's Word. The world's point of view doesn't enter into this covenant. Only by faith in His Word can we dare to believe we have access to God's Throne of grace at anytime we choose to enter in. We can now be received into His Very Presence without guilt or condemnation through Jesus' Sacrifice.
Satan would still try holding onto the hold he had of the new creation, but he can only do so through deception. Satan's very first deception over God's first creation came from the beginning in Genesis 3:4-5 (Amplified) which says, "But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die, For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity."
Adam and Eve were "already like God, according to Genesis 1:27 (Amplified) which says, "So God created man in His Own Image, in the Image and Likeness of God He created him, male and female He created them." God has now made a new creation into His Image and Likeness, with this new birth. The first thing satan tried with this new creation family, was telling us that we are not in "God's Image and Likeness." Satan would have us believing that it's prideful to believe or confess such a thing. God says to believe this, is faith in His Word and His Son.
We've been faced with a decision of what we choose to believe. We can "walk after the dictates of the flesh" or we can choose to walk in the dictates of the Spirit with liberty in Christ Jesus. God has given His people the power of choice. God says in Deuteronomy 30:14&19 (Amplified), "See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil." Verse 19 goes on, "I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curses; Therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live."
We've been given the same mandate in our lives. Those who believe and are born-again will be saved, while those who do not believe, will be lost. Those who choose to be led by the dictates of the flesh, will continue living in guilt and condemnation. Those who walk in the dictates of the Spirit, will walk in liberty and life. The choice is left up to us. We can choose to believe in God's new creation and walk in dominion over sin and death or we can choose to believe what the deceiver said to Eve and then not enter into God's Presence.
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Lesson 58 The New Creation
How many times have we read the story about "The Potter and the Clay?" Have you ever read it, while knowing that clay is workable? There is no fault in the Potter, but some clay just doesn't hold together the way it should. You can still make a clay cup (man was made from clay) that doesn't yield to hold wine. The inside (your spirit) will hold the "newness" of God, but the outside (the flesh and will) remains unyielding.
2Timothy 2:20-21 (Amplified) says, "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also (utensils) of wood and earthenware, and some for honorable and noble (use) and some for menial and ignoble (use)." Verse 21 goes on, "So whoever cleanses himself (from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupt influences) will (then himself) be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work)."
This scripture isn't referring to sinful things in our lives, but is referring to willful things in our lives. Contact with "contaminating and corrupting influences" can mean holding onto old, unrenewed mindsets (as well as the willful things we don't yield over to God's way). It doesn't mean this vessel isn't in the great house (or not saved), but that God cannot use this vessel to do like He would through it. The vessel was created clean and new inside, but still cannot be set before the world in its intended honor in great places.
Have you ever set the Christmas dinner for guests, making sure not to include the ones sporting Mickey Mouse on them? I have. We pull out the finest dishes for displaying before them. The plastic cups or the cartoon ones are still in our house, but not for "noble" use. Those cups still hold the same drinks as the good stuff, but they are not for company. We can still be filled with the new Spirit and be a new creation in God, but continue walking in our own will, so that God can't use you like He wishes.
When Jesus prayed over the sick for healing, He had to know that it was God's will to do so. Jesus didn't stop at each person and pray about whether or not it was God's will for this person to be healed. Jesus knew the Father's heart. Some wonder whether God made them sick for His glory and other religious ideas. Jesus never failed in His faith in God's will concerning the sick. We can involve our own will and fail to do God's will by "corrupt influences," like the above verse says. By an act of our own we, we decide to listen to corrupt voices from others, concerning God's will.
By an act of our own will, we refuse to believe God's will, just like the Israelites who refused to enter the Promised Land, after listening to "corrupt communications" from the leaders of the tribes (Numbers 13-14). We've also been influenced by many in the Church, as to whether something is from God or not. Since they (the leaders) wouldn't believe, they influenced other to not believe and by an act of their own will, refused the promises of God. They were still "God's people" and God still loved them, but His will wasn't carried out, because their will wouldn't allow Him to move.
Your will has everything to do with your faith. If you will not to believe a certain thing, then your faith cannot obtain it from God. God's will in our lives, depends upon our will agreeing with His will on earth. Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." In order to bring God's will to pass here, He must have those who will surrender their will to Him.
I've had to make decisions in my own life, that went against my will, so that I could do His will. When I initially arrived in New York to begin this ministry, it wasn't my will to be here. I didn't want to leave my family, friends and a good job in order to come here. I had family, friends and a job with good security to hold onto. I spent much time in prayer and fasting over this decision. I finally said, "Lord, if this is what You want, then I will go." Then, God's will could be done here, in the area of upstate New York, because I submitted my will to God's will.
This might sound strange to some reading this account, but God needs you! Why would Jesus tell us to, "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel?" We know it's God's will that all mankind be saved, but He needed someone who would take upon God's will, more than his own will. It's sometimes difficult to do, because of all the "hindrances" that come from it. It would be easier to simply do our own will and let someone else do God's will and work. God isn't a Sunday morning God, but a Resurrection Sunday morning God. God created us, the new creation people, to do His will. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His Kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right)."
We don't hold elections or have debates in God's Kingdom. His Kingdom reigns by His Word and His Word is His will. We're not called to change it, debate it or reason with it. Nor do we decide what part of it is true. Our part is to yield our will to God's will and to be led by His Spirit. Jesus was so committed to doing God will, that He could actually say, "The Father and I, are One." He also said in John 17 (Amplified), "I pray that they (those who believe) may be one, even as We are One." In order to fulfill this, we must learn and line up with God's will and bring our own will into a place of submission to Him.
Upon His working miracles, Jesus would say to the people, "It is not Me, but the Father in Me that does the works." God's will could flow so fully through Jesus, that it was no longer, but the Father Himself, Who did the works. The Father Himself could flow unrestricted in His will, to set mankind free. When we understand and walk in God's will, we will again see the works of the Father flow from unrestricted vessels. We will be vessels to be used in the Great House and used in Noble houses.
2Timothy 2:20-21 (Amplified) says, "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also (utensils) of wood and earthenware, and some for honorable and noble (use) and some for menial and ignoble (use)." Verse 21 goes on, "So whoever cleanses himself (from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupt influences) will (then himself) be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work)."
This scripture isn't referring to sinful things in our lives, but is referring to willful things in our lives. Contact with "contaminating and corrupting influences" can mean holding onto old, unrenewed mindsets (as well as the willful things we don't yield over to God's way). It doesn't mean this vessel isn't in the great house (or not saved), but that God cannot use this vessel to do like He would through it. The vessel was created clean and new inside, but still cannot be set before the world in its intended honor in great places.
Have you ever set the Christmas dinner for guests, making sure not to include the ones sporting Mickey Mouse on them? I have. We pull out the finest dishes for displaying before them. The plastic cups or the cartoon ones are still in our house, but not for "noble" use. Those cups still hold the same drinks as the good stuff, but they are not for company. We can still be filled with the new Spirit and be a new creation in God, but continue walking in our own will, so that God can't use you like He wishes.
When Jesus prayed over the sick for healing, He had to know that it was God's will to do so. Jesus didn't stop at each person and pray about whether or not it was God's will for this person to be healed. Jesus knew the Father's heart. Some wonder whether God made them sick for His glory and other religious ideas. Jesus never failed in His faith in God's will concerning the sick. We can involve our own will and fail to do God's will by "corrupt influences," like the above verse says. By an act of our own we, we decide to listen to corrupt voices from others, concerning God's will.
By an act of our own will, we refuse to believe God's will, just like the Israelites who refused to enter the Promised Land, after listening to "corrupt communications" from the leaders of the tribes (Numbers 13-14). We've also been influenced by many in the Church, as to whether something is from God or not. Since they (the leaders) wouldn't believe, they influenced other to not believe and by an act of their own will, refused the promises of God. They were still "God's people" and God still loved them, but His will wasn't carried out, because their will wouldn't allow Him to move.
Your will has everything to do with your faith. If you will not to believe a certain thing, then your faith cannot obtain it from God. God's will in our lives, depends upon our will agreeing with His will on earth. Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." In order to bring God's will to pass here, He must have those who will surrender their will to Him.
I've had to make decisions in my own life, that went against my will, so that I could do His will. When I initially arrived in New York to begin this ministry, it wasn't my will to be here. I didn't want to leave my family, friends and a good job in order to come here. I had family, friends and a job with good security to hold onto. I spent much time in prayer and fasting over this decision. I finally said, "Lord, if this is what You want, then I will go." Then, God's will could be done here, in the area of upstate New York, because I submitted my will to God's will.
This might sound strange to some reading this account, but God needs you! Why would Jesus tell us to, "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel?" We know it's God's will that all mankind be saved, but He needed someone who would take upon God's will, more than his own will. It's sometimes difficult to do, because of all the "hindrances" that come from it. It would be easier to simply do our own will and let someone else do God's will and work. God isn't a Sunday morning God, but a Resurrection Sunday morning God. God created us, the new creation people, to do His will. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His Kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right)."
We don't hold elections or have debates in God's Kingdom. His Kingdom reigns by His Word and His Word is His will. We're not called to change it, debate it or reason with it. Nor do we decide what part of it is true. Our part is to yield our will to God's will and to be led by His Spirit. Jesus was so committed to doing God will, that He could actually say, "The Father and I, are One." He also said in John 17 (Amplified), "I pray that they (those who believe) may be one, even as We are One." In order to fulfill this, we must learn and line up with God's will and bring our own will into a place of submission to Him.
Upon His working miracles, Jesus would say to the people, "It is not Me, but the Father in Me that does the works." God's will could flow so fully through Jesus, that it was no longer, but the Father Himself, Who did the works. The Father Himself could flow unrestricted in His will, to set mankind free. When we understand and walk in God's will, we will again see the works of the Father flow from unrestricted vessels. We will be vessels to be used in the Great House and used in Noble houses.
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